Muhammad Ali reflects on life, legacy in 1976 Face the Nation interview
Heavy weight boxing champion Muhammad Ali reflected on his life and legacy in an interview with Face the Nation 40 years ago, discussing where his life might have gone if he hadn't started boxing - and what he'd like to do when he retires from the sport.
Ali had previously said he wanted to lecture and be "a black Henry Kissinger" after his boxing career, and he expanded on that statement in the May 2, 1976 interview.
"I figure that we only have so many hours a day to do whatever we have to do, so many years to live, and in those years we sleep, about eight hours a day, we travel, we watch television," he explained. "If a man is 50 years old he's lucky to have had 20 years to actually live. So I would like to do the best that I can for humanity."
Ali said he wanted to draw on his fame and influence to make a positive impact on the world.
"I'm blessed by God to be recognized as the most famous face on the earth today, and I cannot think of nothing no better than helping God's creatures, or helping poverty, or working for good causes where I can use my name to do so," he said.
Later in the interview, Ali was asked what his life might have looked like if he hadn't become a boxer.
"I started boxing when I was twelve years old. I was not that educated in school, and I don't know what I would have done--probably a factory worker, or could have been somewhere dead, wound up in the wrong game, or in the wrong life," Ali said. "But if I had heard the Islamic teachings, and if I'd heard the Muslim teachings, which I've accepted, I would probably have been a minister or doing something else good for mankind, but not in a larger way."
Ali retired in 1981 with a professional record of 56 wins and five defeats. He passed away Friday in a Phoenix area hospital after respiratory complications following a 32-year battle with Parkinson's disease.
